The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
